Urgathoa
Urgathoa (pronounced oor-gah-THO-ah) is the goddess of physical excess, disease, and the undead. She is mostly worshiped by dark necromancers, the undead, and those wishing to become undead. Sometimes those who live gluttonous lifestyles make supplication to her, as do those suffering from a serious illness. History There are stories that suggest that Urgathoa was once a hedonistic mortal woman. Upon her death, she fled Pharasma's Boneyard and returned to Other World, making her the Great Beyond's first undead creature. Her return to the mortal world is said to be the origin of disease. Appearance Urgathoa is generally depicted as an attractive, pale-skinned, and ebony-haired woman. Unlike mortal women, her flesh begins to rot and wither away at her waist, leaving her as little more than a blood-soaked skeleton from the hips down. She is often similarly manifested, but wearing a loose fitting gown stained with black, brown, and red splotches. Servants Urgathoa's minions include powerful vampires, liches, and other intelligent, authoritative undead. Some female clerics of Urgathoa are transformed after death into undead creatures known as the daughters of Urgathoa. Church of Urgathoa The churches of Urgathoa are dispersed across Other World in cell-based cults, with individual groups rarely working together. Activities are usually done under the cover of night. Obedience Certain dedicated worshipers of the Pallid Princess perform daily obediences in order to receive divine blessings known as a boons from their goddess. The obedience takes the form of a ritual in which the worshiper spreads the most sumptuous feast she can find on a flat surface covered with a black velvet cloth. While consuming the food, the penitent must drink wine and say prayers to Urgathoa until she is painfully full. After a full hour of this, the worshiper must consume a piece of rotten or rancid food, trusting in the goddess to protect her from any illness that might follow. If the ritual is performed correctly and the goddess approves, the worshiper's ability to cast necromantic spells is increased for the day. Clergy Urgathoa's priests are primarily composed of clerics and necromancers. They have few responsibilities to uphold, other than helping those who desire undeath, and protection of their own. Understandably, they often are secretive of their religious inclinations in public. The priests have been known to compel their enemies to eat their own fallen comrades.14 The ceremonial clothes of Urgathoa's worshipers are a loose, floor-length, gray tunic, with a bone-white or dark gray cape clasped at the front. The lower half of the tunic is usually shredded, alluding to the goddess' own physical decay. Most ceremonies involve consuming great amounts of food and drink, which means that most raiments are covered by numerous stains. Reaping Senior priests of Urgathoa sometimes practice a ritual known as the Reaping. The priest will put on a grey robe and arm himself with a vorpal scythe. The priest then heads out into the world to cause as much death and destruction as he can before he is driven back to his sanctuary. They believe that if Urgathoa is pleased by the outcome of the Reaping, she will grant a boon to the priest. Antipaladins of Urgathoa Antipaladins dedicated to Urgathoa are creatures of the night who bring disease and leave only death in their wake. They hope to emulate their patroness by hastening all to their unavoidable graves, and see undead as the ultimate expression of existence, as they have transcended both life and death. If not undead themselves, her antipaladins strive to emulate them and destroy all who oppose them. Unrepentant gluttons, they seek to feed their hunger and base desires whenever possible. Temples & shrines Urgathoa's temples are modeled after feast-halls, with a large table serving as an altar, surrounded by numerous chairs. Usually temples are near a graveyard or a crypt, frequently inhabited by ghouls. Her greatest temples are often guarded by daemonic servants. Holy texts Urgathoa's sacred text is entitled Serving Your Hunger,2 and written by Dason, her first antipaladin. Favored animals Gods are often associated with certain animals, either because they possess a quality favored by the god, or because the god's faithful feel a special kinship to them. Urgathoa's favored animals include death's-head moths, flies and maggots, vultures and other carrion eaters.